The new Evangelical church book portal Archion is currently in closed-access Beta-testing mode. Approximately 135,000 Evangelical church books will eventually be accessible through this subscription website. The portal will begin its service with circa 32,000 books. User fees are supposed to finance the additional materials coming online.
Currently fees are set at 178 Euros (roughly 250 US Dollars) per year for general users who will be allowed to download up to 50 scans per month, and 1788 Euros per year for professionals, with a download capacity of up to 500 images per month. As I understand it, the download restrictions refer to the number of images the user is able to print, not view.
Archion will eventually allow access to records from eleven church archives and is scheduled to go live in early 2015 as a subscription site. For a sneak preview (in German) with screen shots see http://www.dergenealoge.de/archion-einblick-in-die-testphase/#.VDA_BPldVVY

More information about this project is available in the blog found at http://www.kirchenbuchportal.de/ , unfortunately only in German. Only the last three entries are shown on the home page. To access the next earlier blog entry scroll down past all the comments of the earliest available entry.

We cracked another case today, but the client/patron along with another fellow professional, less-seasoned researcher do not want to accept it. Schade (too bad, or what a shame). The entire post got deleted. Sometimes patrons do that due to misplaced annoyance, disgust or shame. They shall apparently now bark up the wrong tree & in the wrong location. Subject: a small village in Germany. Little do they know, that ______… But due to our multi-decade experience, supported by proper best research practices, thus, we see that they will make amateur & hobbyist research errors. They failed to follow the fundamentals & took things at face value–a huge mistake. This errant research methodology is often done with enthusiastic zeal. This will add to their disappointment when they don’t find him in their chosen–albeit, wrong–location. The client did not want to pay $1,000 (nor anything lesser I offered) for me to coach & mentor her as to how to obtain the answer. I offered to teach her how to fish. But, like many, they proudly figure they already know how to fish{:>) <sigh>When you are ready for able research, send your retainer to the PayPal.com acct mfhm1979@hotmail.com (yes, it looks like an email address) http://www.germangenealogist.com/about-us-lynell-karl-michael-sala/

Now, you BEGIN to see why. We SAVE our clients & patrons THOUSANDS of $, while putting them on the best path for their research–or we do it for &/or with them{:>) We prevented this patron from barking up the wrong Heinzendorf geographic locations in Schlesien (Silesia) in old Prussia or Preussen. The major best research practice shared was for her to stick with the notion that had been provided by the family rumors & stories of THEIR Heinzendorf being in POSEN, per se! A little alteration of the spelling & by having checked (& taught her to also check) the Posen provincial gazetteer, there is ONLY ONE clear location: HINZENDORF{:>) We then taught her how to obtain the name of the precise parish for her ancestral target location: Schlichtingsheim! Yes, there are some available parish registers for that location. She WAS also going to correspond with Berlin records repositories–which would have likely not gotten her anywhere. <sigh> Excuse me while I wax somewhat emotional at this coaching, researching, mentoring, finding & then sharing. Now, if I have any family, friends & fans who want me to be more humble, this is about as good as it gets. This, because, for the client, this is also As Good As It Gets! Right, Susanne Peterson Haring & John Wayne Erb & Dave Johnston & Scott Spencer & several other Ancestry.com former & present managers?

[8/10/2014 1:49:28 PM on Skype] Sister Browning wrote: Hi! I am in charge of adding new admins to the Genealogy Research Communities. You are a big help on our Germany site. Your expertise is mind boggling….”